How to cultivate a better professional image for yourself

1. Quotable quote

"The first impression is usually lasting, largely because people's perceptions are not easily changed, but also because you are likely to keep projecting the same image.

The way you look and what that conveys are part of your performance. Recognise that the way you look affects the way you work and the way other people perceive your work. Cultivating your image means defining and focusing more sharply on who you really are. But it is of the utmost importance that you be authentic and genuine and that you not seek artificially to blot out aspects of who you are and the way you act."

2. Ask yourself

Look at yourself through the eyes of your staff for a moment. When you walk into the office or factory, imagine that each person is thinking two descriptive adjectives about you - such as ‘confident’, or ‘aloof’, or ‘well dressed’.

What would they be thinking about you? Why? What might you need to do about it?

3. Viewpoint

"My proper-speaking schoolteacher grandmother used to say that the way you talk is like the way you dress; to present your best image, you use what’s appropriate for the occasion and leave the rest in the closet." …